The granulated activated charcoal system will remove organic contaminants from water the authority pulls from the upper Hudson River and sells to six municipalities and GlobalFoundries, authority board Chairman Jack Lawler said.

The county wants to start construction on the project in September or October and complete it by early spring, Lawler said. He said the system would prevent water quality issues that have plagued the $71.2 million Saratoga County water system that was constructed starting in 2007.

"It's going to work out well," said Lawler, the supervisor of Waterford. "It's a $5.5 million investment, but it's going to solve the problem once and for all."

The problem in the recent past has been high levels of chlorination byproducts in the water. The county found the byproducts last year. Test results revealed levels of disinfection byproducts that exceeded national standards.

The finding caused two customers -— Clifton Park and Ballston — to stop purchasing water from the authority last October. The towns resumed buying water from the county in the spring after county leaders installed a miniature version of the carbon water cleaning system off Route 67, Lawler said.

The water authority will go to bond for the $5.5 million and intends to pay the money back through water sales. But it's been unable to turn a profit since forming four years ago.

The $71.2 million system pipes water to municipal customers and the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta. In addition to Clifton Park and Ballston, the authority also sells water to the village of Stillwater, Wilton, Moreau, a small part of Malta and GlobalFoundries. It's now selling an average of 4 million to 4.5 million gallons of water a day, Lawler said. It needs to sell five million a day to break even.

The county could add Greenfield and the town of Stillwater as customers in the coming months, Lawler said. The county charges municipalities around $2.13 per 1,000 gallons of water and GlobalFoundries about $2.50.